Using cemetery data, it has been possible to identify the signature of a previously unknown demographic process associated with the transition from a hunter-gatherer to an agricultural economy. Characterized by a dramatic increase in the birth rate, and consequently of the population growth rate, over a period of less than a millennium following the transition to agriculture, this global demographic process has been termed the Neolithic Demographic Transition (NDT). The NDT signature has so far been detected in Europe, North America, Mesoamerica and South America.

The methodological innovation which has made possible the identification of the NDT is the use of a relative chronology, fixed to the local onset of the Neolithic. That is, events are considered not in terms of their absolute calendar dates, but rather in terms of their relation to the local date of the transition to agriculture. This volume presents and discusses the consequences and implications of the NDT on a global scale. Topics include:

The causes of the NDT at its onset;

Indicators of economic intensification as related to the NDT;

Settlement and village practices associated with the pace of the NDT;

The emergence of social practices associated with larger population concentrations;

"Bocquet-Appel and Bar-Yosef have organized and produced a superb thematic volume that provides a wide variety of applications and perspectives on the NDT" James T. Watson, University of Arizona

“The main strength of this volume is its clear focus on the NDT and related processes. … well suitable … to a readership of advanced undergraduates, postgraduate students in the social sciences and to academics from a wide range of disciplines who are interested in the social, economic and demographic facets of the ‘Neolithic Revolution’. … a highly recommended volume which highlights how interdisciplinary approaches can provide new insight into the study of the Neolithic transition and the great potential of thematic scientific discourse.” (Ron Pinhasi, Human Ecology, Vol. 37 (5), October, 2009)

“The collected papers address the demographic process associated with the transition from a hunter-gatherer economy to an agricultural economy in the Neolithic. … the papers are stimulating, informative and address a myriad of topics associated with population growth, providing food for thought for historians, archaeologists and anthropologists as well as demographers. … provide an extremely stimulating discussion of the implications of the NDT and its consequences, with all due caution and a number of flags raised about a precocious global application.” (Helena Fracchia, Canadian Studies in Population, Vol. 37 (3-4), Fall/Winter, 2010)